Nintendo’s Wii U problems turn into a crisis

No matter how weak the Wii U sales are now, they are likely to get worse. The launch dates of key games seem to be slipping from March quarter to June quarter, including the important Pikmin, Wario and Wii Fit franchises. The Wii U now must depend on Rayman and Lego City in coming months.

the wii u is like other nes consoles where gamers have to wait months and on for games so fanatics should be use to nintendos antics.

with the rumoured specs of ps4 which makes it like 12 times the power of the wii u and the imminent announcement of ps4 the wii u crisis will get worse and not like the crytek games which i like on pc. wii u is rubbish and finished

What game are you talking about? I have one and there isn't a single game that could have possibly lasted you until now... Honestly, I don't have a whole lot of free time and I'm completely out of Wii U games to play. Lego City Undercover is coming out soon, but then what? I have to wait another year for Super Smash Bros? I might not even like that. Battle Royale totally outdid SSB for me. What do I have to look forward to?

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate has my attention and it's out in March so this article is trash to me. I plan on getting a PS4 but the damn thing hasn't even been officially announced yet. I see no doom in the Wii U future as long as they hold exclusivity over a few must have franchises.

I am accurately predicting the fall of Nintendo's Home Console production. There is only one console that Nintendo has produced that has beat their original NES sales of 62 million, that console being the Wii, which has sold roughly 97 million.

The Wii was a phenomenon with the casual market. Motion controls brought something new and fresh to the gaming scene that really took everyone by surprise. There were viral videos of women playing the Wii in their underwear, there were old people buying the Wii to play Bowling, there were people who really weren't gamers at all who bought the Wii for entertainment at parties, there were parents who bought the Wii for their kids, and then there were the hardcore Mario/Metroid/Zelda fans who also bought the Wii.

The WiiU however is in a completely different situation from its Wii counterpart. This time the WiiU has been released a year earlier than the PS4 and the Xbox 720. There are currently not many games available for the WiiU, with key game franchises being delayed for the system. The WiiU tablet has not taken the masses by storm like the WiiMote and Nunchuck controllers did. The electronics market has been saturated with tablets for the past 3 years, and therefore the Wiiu tablet controller does not stand out as a must have item to the general public.

The WiiU's hardware, while slightly more powerful than the PS3 and Xbox 360, has not shown itself to be anything more than a current generation console. Meanwhile there is a large amount of hype in the gaming industry regarding the imminent release of the PS4 and Xbox 720. People are focused with anticipation on the higher capabilities of Sony and Microsoft's next consoles which most consumers will see as the true next generation console experiences.

Nintendo relies on game franchises that have been around for almost 30 years, and while I love and still own my original NES from when I was a kid, Nintendo has not grown up with me. Sony on the other hand has come out with numerous different franchises over the last two console generations which has caused the Playstation platform to boast the most diverse customer base in gaming today. Sony is also unifying all of their assets to create a shared ecosystem between the PS VITA, PS4, Bravia TVs, Smart Phones and Tablets. The most interesting of Sony's assets is GaiKai, which I personally believe will be the lynch pin to an explosion of market capitalization. Sony is about to change the gaming business, and they are about to change music and video entertainment, which I believe will be a huge threat to Apple in the coming years.

Microsoft on the other hand really only has three major exclusive games such as Halo/Gears of War/Forza, and has shown a self propelled momentum of around Warp 8(In Star Trek terms) moving them more towards the casual gamer and farther and farther away from their traditional core gaming audience. They are creating their own ecosystem across Smart Phones, Tablets, PCs and their Xbox Consoles, which puts them heads and tails above Nintendo when it comes to capabilities and overall appeal to the consumer.

I predict that when E3 comes around, that any excitement for the WiiU will be all but gone. Sony and Microsoft will steal the show at E3, laying the foundation for strong holiday sales, and a buzz for the gaming industry that hasn't been seen since the PS2 first entered the market. Of course the hardcore Nintendo fans will still be buying Nintendo's core games like Mario/Zelda/Metroid, but I don't believe the WiiU will last for more than 3 years at most.

I might have to start a blog since I could't fit everything I wanted to say into my comment :D

Monster Hunter really isn't a strong or must have unless you're either from Japan or you're one of the very few diehard fans outside of Japan.

Besides. Monster Hunter Ultimate 3rd is only exclusive here in the US. Most die hard Monster Hunter fans have already imported or, even though I'm not a fan of piracy, downloaded Monster Hunter Portable 3rd for the PSP which is the exact same game. Not the exact same. 3G is a very very very slight upgrade. Capcom is well known for releasing the same game with subtle changes.

Unless they already own a 3DS, I wouldn't think those that have Portable 3rd would spend $170 to purchase the 3DS and a game they already own or already have access to. Although I'm sure they'd buy a 3DS for Monster Hunter 4's release.

I don't keep up with monster hunter games very much, but i played monster hunter something on my psp years ago. Is this the same game as that? Not sure what the difference between freedom, unite, tri and 3 is suppose to be, but the screenshots kinda looked similar.

This is one of those instances where the naming of the game is making me hesitant to buy it. I didn't really enjoy handheld controls for a monster hunter game but wouldn't mind trying it on an actual console with an internet connection.

Not the first time we've seen articles moaning about poor sales when the console has only been on the market a couple of months. Is it too much to ask to give it time before we start writing it off? I guess so. When the Wii hit, it was $250 and by far the cheapest console offering of the next gen while the other consoles were slugging it out at hundreds more. The Wii-U is pricier than the Wii and contending with two established consoles with a few years left under their belts. No one could have honestly believed we'd see a wii-like repeat.

It'll find it's audience. You have to give it more than a couple of months.

GO AWAY. you are the most annoying troll, and you'll only look utterly stupid when Wii U sales pick up just like the 3DS did. Look at how bad the 3DS did in its first few months. Look at it now. shut your mouth and if the system is still not doing well after a year, then talk.

@kneon - my thoughts exactly. that said I don't think any console will die early like dreamcast did( which I loved btw) ps2 had a DVD player and sega had financial problems, because of these issues sega had the risk was too high to continue production. Dream cast was ahead of its time too looking at the controller of the wiiU and dreamcast they are kinda similar. Nintendo isn't in too much trouble financially but unless we see a huge price cut like the 3ds I don't see the wiiU selling as much as the wii or 3ds. Let ps4/720 come out with a similar price of the wiiU the wiiU will sell like the 64. I wouldn't buy a wiiU if I had a choice between ps4/720 at the same price...fanboy feelings aside answer honestly..... Would you?

the evidence is hardening..and furthermore= a 7970m cost them 200 bucks...lets do the math...this console wouldn't cost less than minimum 500$ if you add cpu, storage and memory costs...there is no way for sony to pull something like this off...and with most recent rumours claiming sony to abandon the dualshock and going the Nintendo route I just can't see a powerful console being made for a reasonable price...

like fatstarr already posted...these rumours with the 7970m are bullshit